The Case Against Meat

Attention Jordan Peterson: MD Makes the Case Against Meat - Part One

I happen to admire Dr. Jordan Peterson, and at the risk of sounding too political, much more often than not, I agree with his psychological, social, and political commentary. I read his book, "12 Rules for Life," and several ideas struck a chord with me and were quite helpful while navigating a challenging time in my life.

However, his dietary views are dead wrong. I happen to be vegan (WFPB) and far from "clueless" (his choice of words, not mine).

I understand he practices a meat-based diet complimented by green vegetables while assiduously avoiding carbohydrates. He claims he has successfully lost weight on this diet and has extrapolated that meat is good for us - hence his disparaging view of vegans.

Let me tell you why this is poor logic. Suppose he went from a relatively standard Western diet heavy on processed foods and animal products to a diet based on meat and green veggies. In that case, it is conceivable that there could be a net benefit to his health, but that doesn't mean that eating meat is optimal. We can surmise that processed junk food is bad for us, and eliminating it is a good idea. Likewise, eating green vegetables is good for us. Indeed it is, in fact, true that junk food is really bad and green vegetables are really good for us. I greatly advocate green veggies; unfortunately, most people (even vegans) don't eat enough of them. With an "n" of 1, his personal experiment cannot draw the conclusion that meat is actually good for us.

So Dr. Peterson, if you come across this post, please adhere to your 9th Rule for Life and "assume that the person you are listening to might know something that you don't." With all due respect to Dr. Peterson, I would rather listen to the opinion of eminent scientists like T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, or Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. MD of the Cleveland Clinic, who have been studying nutritional science and the effect of food on health for decades.

Meat is a rich source of calories and of great value in times of calorie scarcity. The typical thought process justifying meat consumption is that we supposedly have eaten meat since time immemorial, but our early hominid ancestors were likely herbivorous.

As the intellect of early protohumans grew, they expanded their habitat and probably became opportunists that would scavenge carrion or kill animals when able to do so. This approach served as an effective short-term survival strategy where the challenge in those times was to live long enough to reproduce. It is, however, not necessarily a strategy to live to the age of 100. Studies of contemporary or current-day societies with exceptional longevity and low levels of chronic disease demonstrate meager consumption of animal products. The Okinawans were the stereotypical "Blue Zone" society with the most super centenarians (i.e., people living to 110 years of age). They consumed a trivial amount of animal products (equivalent to half an egg daily), with most of their caloric intake coming from whole plant foods. I would be interested in Dr. Peterson's reaction if he knew that the traditional Okinawans consumed a diet that derived about 80% of its calories from those dreaded carbohydrates that he is quick to demonize.

Modern epidemiology, such as the EPIC-PANACEA and Adventist 2 studies, show that people eating plant-exclusive diets are doing just fine. Thank you very much. For example, vegans exhibit the lowest rates of diabetes and obesity. In fact, vegans are the only demographic with average body mass indices in the normal range. Let that sink in. Only vegans, as a group on average, have normal body weight in an era of ubiquitous obesity, a dangerous societal trend that continues to worsen and shows no signs of abating. The differences in body weight in the Adventist 2 study were not trivial. The vegan women were almost 40 pounds lighter than the omnivorous women. Eating animal foods is associated with weight gain, insulin resistance, and diabetes. For hitherto unknown reasons, chicken is the worst for promoting weight gain. Who knew?

The relationship between saturated fat, cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease is well-established. The higher the intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, the higher the risk of heart disease. High serum cholesterol (i.e., cholesterol in the bloodstream) is instrumental in the development of plaques that clog up arteries and limit blood flow. A direct proportionality exists between heart attacks and serum cholesterol measuring above 150 or LDL cholesterol above 70. Below these levels, the risk of a heart attack becomes very low, and people with such levels are close to heart attack proof. Dr. William Castelli, long-time director of the famous NIH (National Institute of Health) Framingham study(ongoing since the 1940s), stated that he has never seen a heart attack in anyone with a cholesterol level less than 150 mg/dL. This has been corroborated by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (see below) and Dr. Bill Roberts, editor of the journal "Cardiology."

Simon Hill, author of "The Proof is in the Plants," has stated that the relationship between saturated fat, cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease are amongst the most solidly confirmed facts in nutritional science.

Almost all dietary cholesterol comes from animal foods. Only a few very obscure plant foods contain cholesterol and minimum amounts at best. The most significant effect on serum cholesterol comes from eating saturated fat. And as you might have guessed, most individual diets' primary source of saturated fat is animal products such as beef, cheese, poultry, and fish. Yes, fish also contains cholesterol. There is a small amount of saturated fat in nuts. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn has demonstrated that heart disease can be arrested and even reversed with a strict plant-based diet that excludes nuts (which contain small amounts of saturated fats), all animal products, and processed foods. This feat had been considered an impossibility before his work and the similar work of Dr. Dean Ornish.

Interestingly, epidemiological studies looking at a cross-section of the population show a lower risk of heart disease in those who consume a small amount of nuts. Dr. Esselstyn works with the sickest patients with severe heart disease, so he opted not to include them in his program because of the small amount of saturated fat. It is conceivable that the Esselstyn program could work even better if a small amount of nuts were included, but this cannot be stated with certainty until a clinical trial confirms that. If you have established heart disease, consider eliminating nuts from your diet. If you don't have heart disease, a small handful of nuts daily is a good idea, but be wary that nuts are very calorie dense, and consuming too many may cause weight gain.

Here is the main point; saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease, and they come almost exclusively from animal products such as meat and eggs. If you want to minimize your risk of heart disease, which is the number one killer, you need to reduce or, better yet, completely eliminate animal products drastically.

Sorry Dr. Peterson.

An interesting risk factor regarding heart disease is trimethylamine oxide or TMAO. Trimethylamine (TMA) is created in the gut by bacteria from choline derived from eggs or carnitine derived from meat. TMA then goes to the liver via the portal circulation, where it is oxidized into trimethylamine oxide. TMAO then circulates throughout the body, causing havoc and promoting atherosclerotic plaque plugging up arteries.

Only meat eaters can create TMA from choline and carnitine. Plant-exclusive vegans don't have the necessary bacteria in their gut to do so. If you can convince a vegan to eat meat in the interests of science, they won't initially be able to convert choline and carnitine to TMA and then TMAO. But if they keep eating meat, they will start doing so within a few days because the makeup of their gut bacteria will change. Another interesting fact is that fish, despite its heart-healthy halo, is the worst animal food of all for TMAO production.

Furthermore, TMA and other animal food-derived compounds, such as putrescine and cadaverine, contribute to body odor. So do high levels of sulfur-based amino acids from meat. The nature of skin bacteria and skin oils secreted by plant eaters may differ from carnivores. Non-meat-eaters have been shown to smell better than their omnivorous counterparts. It is worth noting - there is an unusual metabolic condition called trimethylaminuria. Individuals with this genetic condition form excessive TMA and have intractable body odor no matter how much they shower. What is the only treatment for this abnormal condition? A plant-based diet.

Saturated fat, cholesterol, TMA, and TMAO are almost entirely animal-derived factors that contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease, which remains the number one killer accounting for 30% of all deaths in the U.S. A whole food plant-based diet is the only diet ever proven to prevent, arrest, and reverse heart disease.

I hope I have made a compelling argument that a plant-based diet devoid of animal products is the healthiest. As powerful as this information is, there is much more evidence against the case for meat and other animal-derived foods. Read all about it in Part Two.